So you want to be a cowboy...

[beepee 10]

Hello everyone!

01.12.2011 Script release

Because Ziggy and I have found some bugs in my mission, I wont be able to release it yet. The most important part of this whole concept - the cow script works in SP, MP and Dedicated and I've received some requests for it lately so here you can find it.

_unitToConvert=_this select 0;

_cow=objNull;
_cowName=format ["cow0%1",floor(random 5)];
if(_cowName=="cow00") then{_cowName="cow01"};
_cow=(group _unitToConvert) createUnit [_cowName, getpos _unitToConvert,[] , 0, "None"];
deletevehicle _unitToConvert;

while{true} do {
{
	_distance=_cow distance _x;
	_flee=floor(random 50)+5;
	if(_distance<_flee) then {
		_cow doMove [(2*((getPosATL _cow)select 0))-((getPosATL _x) select 0), (2*((getPosATL _cow)select 1))-((getPosATL _x) select 1), (getPosATL _cow) select 2];
	};
} forEach vehicles;
sleep (random 4);
};

To run this script you need a unit, soldier, businessman whatever and in it's init field write this:

nil=[this] execVM "Cow_flee_.sqf"

Then just copy this businessman. Each one will change to cow.

Feel free to use/modify/expand it. Just mention my nickname in your credits section :cool:

There is one restriction. Each cow is in different group. And in each mission there can be only 144 groups (game engine restriction). So you can have no more than 144 cows in mission. That's quite a big restriction if we're talking about cows and herds. If someone can find remedy for this, please let me know.

29.11.2011 Info update!

The MP version of YeeHaa mission finaly announced! See bottom of post.

25.11.2011 Info update!

The cows from ArmA 2 Free works just fine!

14.11.2011 Mission updated!

Small corrections made. Please redownload.

15.11.2011 Mission updated! ver.1.02

New scripted version. Cows behave a bit more natural. Also much easier to edit. Download link at the bottom of post.

Below you can find my first ever build mission :292: It's single player mission, quite simple but (I hope) fun to play. It shows how big potential Take On Helicopters has! Ideas for missions are countless.

There is no briefing nor debriefing (haven't learned this part of mission editor yet ;)) but it's easy to understand what you have to do. Hope you enjoy it!

Feedback highly appreciated!

Inspiration to make this mission came from this video:...............and here is in game capture:

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The idea is to make it as multiplayer mission. Two (or more) teams, two helicopters each, should get their herd to place. The first team that will do this - wins. I'm working on it, but need to learn more about mission making/editing. Probably i'll need your help so please take a look at this thread from time to time.

IMPORTANT

There are no cows in Take On Helicopters! To run this mission you need COWS! I took them from Arma 2 OA. You need to copy 6 files total to "./Take On Helicopters/AddOns/" folder.

animals.pbo

animals.pbo.bi.bisign

animals.pbo.bi2.bisign

animals2.pbo

animals2.pbo.bi.bisign

animals2.pbo.bi2.bisign

I'm not sure if all are necessary but mission works with those six. I don't know if it would be legal to upload those files so I don't do that. Sorry if you can't run this mission because of that :j:.

I'm aware that I've made a lot of mistakes in all that triggers, markers, hints, code and all that stuff but I'm begginer in this topic. It may be hard to edit this mission but feel free to do so.

And finally the mission itself (place it in your /Program Files/Bohemia Interactive/Take On Helicopters/missions/ folder):

"Da mission 1.02"

Cya in the sky. YeeHaaa!

--MP version --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok everyone. Final tweaks done, score system works, time to release this beast.

The mission needs some tests in MP to find bugs so I ask you who would like to help me in those tests? I need three players. Please post in this topic if you'r interested with time when you'r available. After those tests and removing bugs the mission will be released for everyone.

Mission

Each year in the middle of summer, cowboys from farthest outskirts of this hot desert land comes to BeePee's rancho to take part in YeeHaa contest. They group in teams, two pilots each to beat their opponents in a race. Each team runs their herd to destination.

They need to be fast, less time means more points.

They have to cooperate, each cow in place is 30 points.

They have to be fair! Closing to opponents zone means penalty points.

They have to be precise! Destroyed helis are lost forever.

Are You ready to take part in this contest? Are You brave and skillful enough? Show us what you got!

Technical clarifications

There is no briefing nor debriefing unfortunatelly. Briefing is not realy necessary. It's not possible to pass score variables to debriefing so no debriefing also.

This mission is for two teams, two players each. Each team has two helis plus one spare* heli. All helis are locked at the beginnig of mission. Each player needs to choose action "Ready" from side menu. When all players report ready, four helis will unlock, time starts ticking and fun begins.

Each team need to get at least 30 cows to destination. But there is 50 cows in both herds. Remember - more cows more points, but also more time less points. Disturbing other team means penalty points. There are two zones - blue and red. If player stays in opponents zone for 10s his team gets penalty. So play fair.

After finishing the job players need to land at their helipads to finish race. Then score shows. You can also check current score by choosing "Show score" action.

*Spare helis.

There is one spare heli for each team. Those are "light training" models. The spare helis are slightly south of base helis. If blue player crashes then blue spare heli unlocks, but the red one stays locked and vice versa. If player dies, he will respawn after ~15s in base. But if he survives he need to get to base by foot or ask his teammate to get him there. Each players death equals 200 penalty points.

Point system

Each cow in place = +30pts

Each second = -1pt

Player death = -200pts

10s in opponent zone = -100pts

Important!!

1. There is no JIP in this mission so wait for all players in lobby before start. (this needs to be tested)

2. Do not! turn off AI in lobby. If you do, the mission won't work correctly. (needs further testing to remove this restriction)

Edited September 5, 2012 by BeePee

[jedra 11]

Hi,

This is really, really good! It took me a while to find the cows though! It is great for teaching you fine collective and rudder control - you have got to get close to make them cows walk.

I only had a few minutes to test it, but I enjoyed it. Here are some initial constructive points...

1. Consider putting a better marker on the map so it's easier to spot the cows.

2. How about a timer to time the mission.

I'll play some more tonight and see if I can think of more. I think it just needs a bit of polish, but it's a great concept!

By the way - this would be a lot of fun in multiplayer!

Well done!

[sxp2high 22]

Sounds like a great idea - I'll give it a shot!

[sickboy 13]

Any chance on a MP variant of the mission?

[beepee 10]

Thanks for feedback guys. Jedra, I'm glad you like it. I've, by mistake, uploaded wrong version of mission, that's why you couldn't find the cows. Now there is more polished one. I was thinking about timer but don't know how to implement it yet. Maybe someone has some hint? Right kow I'm learning scripting basics, so there is big chance that timer will be there.

Also, answering to Sickboy's question, yes, mp version is in my plans, but first I need to work out couple of things.

[jedra 11]

I call this The Lost Cowboy (or, Chasing Cows)...

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I think Youtube may have taken the audio off - it has certainly got a lot stricter since the last time I had an account. Spoilsports.

As you can see, I was never really in control! I think I killed my horse...

This would be absolutely insane as a multiplayer mission!

Edited November 15, 2011 by Jedra

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

shoulda used the Blues Brothers version ! :blues::blues:

[beepee 10]

Great Jedra! Your horse is kinda wild :D

I'm uploading to youtube my attempt. Stay tuned!

EDIT

Something went wrong with video converting. Need to copture it again. No time now, I'll upload it tomorrow.

EDIT2

Alright! Convert successful!

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Edited November 15, 2011 by BeePee

[beepee 10]

I have reworked my script for cows. Now it should work in multiplayer But I need to test it. Can someone help me? I will run server tomorrow morning from 7AM to 8AM (UTC+1); Please PM me if anyone is interested.

Edited November 17, 2011 by BeePee
email deleted

[jedra 11]

Excellent - I am downloading now. Your flying is much more controlled than mine, but I have been practicing today! I might be around tomorrow evening - I'll let you know tomorrow.

You had better remove your email address before it gets trawled and spammed to death.

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

the mission doesn't load on dedicated, it skips to the next mission in my class missions list.

FPDR ahhh prerequisite addons ! doh !

Edited November 17, 2011 by [DirTyDeeDs]-Ziggy-

[AZY 1]

love to have a fly but i dont have cows files :-( dont have OA

[scarp 10]

Yeah, I found it to be very strange that the animals are not part of TKOH, I mean, what gives? They would definitly be usefull in many areas if not only for visual candy. So I must say I was very suprised to find out there was no animals in the release.

I had a very cool experience with the CP, landed on a hill and went outside and whaddayaknow, Lord & behold a f'in rabbit jumped across my feet and I remember thinking how cool that was :D

Animals should definitly be part of the next patch, say yes BIS :)

Of course, I have both A2 and A2OA, so I do have the animals and it's great fun. But not for everyone apparently :(

[AZY 1]

well seeing there all made via BIS and is the same engine as arma,i really dont see what the problem is with some one uploading the files for download really.or some one can help me with an email of files for cows ?

[beepee 10]

Ok guys, starting the server in ~15min. There is place only for 4 players. Cya on my rancho ;)

EDIT

Anyone? Server is up and running.

Edited November 17, 2011 by BeePee

[jedra 11]

well seeing there all made via BIS and is the same engine as arma,i really dont see what the problem is with some one uploading the files for download really.or some one can help me with an email of files for cows ?

Unfortunately that is almost certainly against the terms and conditions as the animals are officially part of a different game. However, it would be nice to see BI put them into the next patch as this type of mission is exactly the kind of thing that will make TKOH stand out from the rest.

So, please BI, WE WANT COWS!

Ps. Sorry BeePee, misunderstood the time you posted - that was too early fo rme!

[beepee 10]

Thanks to Paul.F I was able to run cows in MP to test my scripts. We were running those stubborn pigs.... sorry cows all other the place! And I must tell you it was great fun and challenge :) Paul.F is very skilled pilot so we could do, with the herd, whatever we wanted. The cows are definitely stupid but fear the helis so they run where we want them to run. The scripts are working good, no errors no glitches. So now I'm going to build some propper MP mission with objectives for two or three teams. I'll upload it when I'll be finished. Feel free to post ideas for MP mission with cows. Right now I have three:

- teams, each team runs their herd to place, first team wins

- coop, run herd to destination, beat the clock

- free for all, seperate herd, each player has cows in different colour (there are four), the player with most cows in his "base" wins. (Paul.F's idea, TNX once again!)

PS

I've seen AZY trying to connect to my server. Sorry that you couldn't AZY! I hope we will have some solution from BIS.

Ps. Sorry BeePee, misunderstood the time you posted - that was too early fo rme!

No problem m8.

[jedra 11]

Great stuff. I like the mission ideas.

One thing I have found while playing (and I have played it a lot in the last few days!) is that occaisionally I lose a cow (found one half way up a mountain yesterday!). Is there something you could do to prevent the cows from wandering too far away? This may be more important if you have four herds - you don't want them to get mixed up.

Also in MP it might be a good idea to stop player A's cows being affected by player B's helicopter otherwise there could be all kinds of online arguments.

I love the idea of co-op on one herd by the way - that should be a lot of fun.

[beepee 10]

Is there something you could do to prevent the cows from wandering too far away?

With current scripts cows shouldn't move farther than 100m. I could make them stop if player is certain distance from them... but! cows are stupid! They are suppose to wandering where they want. It's your job to not let them :)

Also in MP it might be a good idea to stop player A's cows being affected by player B's helicopter otherwise there could be all kinds of online arguments.

Thats possible. But it would be not realistic if a cow would run from one helicopter and not from the other...

[jedra 11]

Thats possible. But it would be not realistic if a cow would run from one helicopter and not from the other...

In that case you had better make the helicopters armed ;-)

You could always make it a parameter though.

Edited November 17, 2011 by Jedra

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

fyi, the cows are not affected by the helicopter when the mission runs on dedicated. :confused_o:

[jedra 11]

-Ziggy-;2061876']fyi' date=' the cows are not affected by the helicopter when the mission runs on dedicated. :confused_o:[/quote']

Unless you have a newer version than in this thread, they won't with the code as it stands. BeePee is nearly ready with his MP version apparently.

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

Unless you have a newer version than in this thread, they won't with the code as it stands. BeePee is nearly ready with his MP version apparently.

yes, I have Yeehaaa!_1_02.South_Asia_H.pbo . Dedicated host acts different then client host.

Thanks to Paul.F I was able to run cows in MP to test my scripts.

AFAIK, PaulF uses client host...

I can run Dedicated host to prove MP mission test.

Edited November 24, 2011 by [DirTyDeeDs]-Ziggy-

[beepee 10]

Yes, Ziggy probably is right. I haven't check it on dedicated. Keep in mind that this is my first ever mission. I'm really proud that i've manage to get this cows script to work. Even if it's gonna work only on client host. After releasing mp version of my mission i'll try to figure out what to do to run it on dedicated. For now i need to finish it.

[beepee 10]

Two good news everyone and no bad news this time!

I'll start with the good one ;) The cows from ArmA 2 Free works just fine! You don't need Operation Arrowhead to run Yeehaa! mission.

Secondly - Ziggy isn't probably right about dedicated server! I say probably because I don't know how to run such server, but the script in mission which you can download from first post is different from my current version. I'll ask you Ziggy to run it on dedicated after first release :)

I would say "Happy thanksgiving" but unfortunately it was yesterday... so just have a good day ;)